Curated OER
State Your Position
Students practice using a global positioning system. They discuss the use of celestial objects as navigation points and its problems. They list the advantages and disadvantages of GPS as well.
Curated OER
Washing Air
Students observe a model of a wet scrubber. They discuss this and other methods of pollutant recovery. They discover how engineers use this information to protect the environment.
Curated OER
Power, Work and the Waterwheel
Students use a two-liter bottle, dowel rod and index cards to design and construct a water wheel. They then calculate the power created and measure the work done by the water wheel in Watts and Joules.
Curated OER
Charge It!
Students complete an experiment using balloons to help them examine the concept of static electricity. They discover how engineers use this information to create better air filters for homes. They describe how to charge an insulator as...
Curated OER
Scale Model of the Earth
Students work together to create a model of the Earth. They label and identify each layer and describing its properties. They discover how engineers use models to test different concepts.
Curated OER
Museums in the Classroom Pumpkin Project
Students identify the 5 stages in the life cycle of a pumpkin. They create a model showing the correct order of pumpkin life stages. They explain a pumpkin's life cycle to a partner, using their model.
Curated OER
Interactions Everywhere!
Learners examine interactions within the environment and environmental engineering careers. They discuss and view photos of natural and manmade environments, explore various websites, create a web to identify interactions between living...
Curated OER
Legends of Airpower: Aviation-Then, Now and Here
High schoolers examine the advancements made in aviation during and since WWII. They read an interview with Charles McGee, research a plane, build a model of a plane, and develop a Powerpoint presentation about aircraft.
Curated OER
Geography: Water, Water Everywhere
Young scholars discuss flooding and its causes. They view a Powerpoint presentation about floods and prevention methods. After creating a model with clay and pans, they investigate river behavior in various terrains with different...
Curated OER
Oil Spill
Students explore an important role of environmental engineers by studying the Exxon Valdez oil spill. They experiment with different strategies in order to clean up their own manufactured oil spill.
Curated OER
Where is Here?
Students are shown the very basics of navigation. The concepts of relative and absolute location, latitude, longitude and cardinal directions are discussed, as well as the use and principles of a map and compass.
Curated OER
Skyscrapers: Engineering Up!
Middle schoolers build their own newspaper skyscrapers with limited materials and time. They identify several different structural engineering principles relating to skyscrapers. They explain how their towers resisted the wind load.
Curated OER
Volcanic Panic!
Students begin with an overview of the Earth's interior and how volcanoes form. They learn how engineers predict eruptions. In a class demonstration, students watch and measure a mock volcanic eruption and observe the phases of an...
Curated OER
See Spot Run
Students identify several properties of water as a universal substance, describe the composition of several complex color mixtures and separate the components of dye using chromatographic technique.
Curated OER
Earthquakes Rock!
Young scholars study the main methods to measure earthquakes; the Richter Scale and Mercalli Scale. They make a model of a seismograph and investigate which structural designs are most likely to survive an earthquake.
Curated OER
Fighting Back!
Fifth graders inspect the basic functions of the immune system and determine how viruses and bacteria invade the immune system. They also explore what happens to the immune system in outer space.
Curated OER
Riding the Radio Waves
Students examine the basic concepts of radio waves and magnetic fields. They study how the AM radios are built and demonstrate the concepts of amplitude and frequency.
Curated OER
Digestive System
Students analyze how the digestive system works by taking the food we eat and breaking it down for our bodies to use for various reasons. They list the major components of the digestive system and draw a diagram. They explain how...
Curated OER
TE Lesson: Energy Transfer in Musical Instruments
Students study concepts of energy and energy transfer. They look at how these concepts apply to musical instruments. They study the law of conservation of energy. They use the concepts studied in the lesson to design a musical instrument.
Curated OER
TE Lesson: I've Got Issues!
Learners study environmental issues from different perspectives. They look at the issues from the view of both preservationists and conservationists as they identify themselves with one group or the other. They determine how teamwork...
Curated OER
TE Lesson: Pollution Solutions
Students study how industrial technology helps clean up and prevent air pollution. They role play as engineers to examine methods of engineering pollutant recovery methods such as scrubbers, electrostatic precipitators, cyclones, and...
Curated OER
Simple Machines and Modern Day Engineering Analogies
Young scholars apply the mechanical advantages and problem-solving capabilities of six types of simple machines (wedge, wheel and axle, lever, inclined plane, screw, pulley) as they discuss modern structures in the spirit of the...
Curated OER
Sounds Like Music
Young scholars define and examine the connections between sound and music and how engineers design instruments. They listen to examples of musical instruments, view a demonstration of a tuning fork and bottles filled with varying...
Curated OER
Time for Design
Students are introduced to the design process used in engineering. They compare and contrast this process with the steps followed in the scientific method. Students then participate in a brainstorming session that asks them to design a...